Students and staff enjoy “the thrifty trend”

by Karli Mast – Horizon Guest Writer

Rachel Short Miller’s favorite shirt is large, flannel, has mismatched sleeves and costs less than $3. Where did she find this gem? At a thrift store.

“I found it by trying to find the weirdest looking thing in the store and found that flannel in the midst.”

Short-Miller, a freshman, has been an avid thriftier since high school. And she’s not alone.

According to National Association of Resale Professionals, thrift shops and consignment stores have increase revenue by 7 percent in the last two years.

Students and faculty and staff all around campus seem to be catching onto this thrifty trend. One of them is sophomore Mitchell Martin.

Martin was not much of a thrift shopper before he came to college. But last year he started going to Et Cetera, a thrift store in downtown Newton with his friends when they were looking for something to do. At one point this year he and his friends would go every two weeks.

He says about 15 percent of his clothing comes from thrift store purchases, but that 15 percent is well used.

“I would estimate that over a third of what I wear on a regular basis consists of thrift clothes.”

Annali Murray, a Hesston College admissions counselor, is also into thrifting.

“I have been thrift shopping at least since middle school,” said Murray. “I remember begging my mom to take me to the local Good Will on Sunday afternoons and I remember really vivid dreams, also in middle school, about finding wonderful pieces in thrift stores. You could say I was obsessed.”

Murray says there is sentimental value in every thrift store purchase, but her favorite is an Italian leather belt that she purchased in a thrift shop in Kampala, Uganda.

Thrift shopping is more than a trend to Murray.

“People have been enjoying going through other people’s unwanted items for years. It’s here to stay!”